The vendor running the state’s eScrap recycling program picked up nearly 400,000 pounds of recyclable eScrap in the month of June, officials said.Thomas Heil, an environmental scientist with the Kentucky Division of Waste Management, said monthly totals show the state’s eScrap vendor, Creative Recycling Systems, picked up 379,685 pounds of eScrap from more than 50 state agencies, municipalities and school districts throughout the commonwealth in June. “I see continued growth – it has jumped an enormous amount since it started back in January,” Heil said. “It’s just continually increasing in volume.”State officials, last year contracted with Creative, a Tampa, Fla.-based company, to dispose of eScrap (end-of-life computer equipment, components and office electronics) in an environmentally friendly manner. Under the terms of the contract, the company sanitizes all hard drives and memory at its Tampa facility. Operations began at the company’s Louisville recycling center on Jan. 1. Seven employees currently work at the center, and increased demand has already fueled the need for a second truck, according to Operations Manager Bill Diesselhorst.“I expect that increase to keep on going as more and more state agencies, city and county governments, and schools hear about us,” Diesselhorst said. State government conservatively disposes of more than 5 million pounds of eScrap annually, but Creative ensures that only 5 percent or less of that amount reaches the state’s landfills. The company reimburses state agencies for some recycled items, takes most at no cost and only charges for those items that cost more to process than their recovered material value, based on quantity and/or weight.The effort is a part of the state’s first-ever comprehensive strategy for energy independence called “Intelligent Energy Choices for Kentucky’s Future.” Gov. Steve Beshear is calling for a 25 percent reduction in energy consumption and 50 percent reduction of state government’s carbon footprint in 15 years.“We see it as a real benefit - not only to state government agencies, but also municipalities and residents to do the right thing to make sure that their private eScrap is properly kept out of the waste stream and in the recycling stream,” Heil said. “It shows the willingness for people in this state to do the right thing - it puts Kentucky up there with more progressive states.”